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What Does a Government House Leader Do?
Innisfil Enterprise
January 17, 2007
By Peter Van Loan, MP, York-Simcoe
It has now been two weeks since I assumed
the role of Government House Leader in the
Federal Cabinet. Many people have
congratulated me - the brave and honest
one's then shyly asking what, exactly, the
job involves. I call them the honest
ones, because few people really know what
the job is.
Simply put, the House Leader leads the
Government in the House of Commons. On
behalf of the Prime Minister, the House
Leader manages the government's legislative
program, develops and implements the
strategy for Parliament (particularly the
House of Commons).
Perhaps many Canadians don't know a lot
about Government House Leaders because their
world revolves around parliamentary
procedure - a riveting subject to only a
few. As someone put it recently, if
the House of Commons is like a court, the
House Leaders are the lawyers.
Every party has its own House Leader.
The Government House Leader has the
challenge of negotiating and co-operating
with the other Parties' House Leaders, a
much greater challenge in a minority
Parliament.
Up until World War II, the Prime Minister
managed the House of Commons business
directly. However, since 1944, the
duties have been delegated (officially since
1946, when the position of Government House
Leader was formally recognized). Since
that time, the role has been filled by a
wide range of Members of Parliament.
The skills thought to be important for the
job are strategic and tactical analysis,
planning, diplomacy, negotiation, and
organization. As a result, occupants
of the post often have strong political
backgrounds - resulting in the paradox of
highly partisan individuals, who sit down
and negotiate co-operation with their
rivals.
The Government House Leader is part of the
Caucus Leadership, sitting on the dais at
Caucus meetings, together with the Prime
Minister, the Caucus Chair, the Governmet
Leader in the Senate and the Whip.
Every day is highly structured, with
meetings starting at 8:30am, and hardly a
spare moment available until the evening.
In the weeks ahead I will write about some
of the many aspects of the job, from
meetings with the other House Leaders, to
the Board of Internal Economy. It's
more interesting than it sounds!
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